The chief of Transylvania (Kentucky) University’s public safety department and the president of the university worked together to take down a machete-wielding man who attacked students in a campus coffee shop Friday morning.
The two men happened to be nearby when the violence erupted, and their quick action stopped the attacker before more people might have been hurt.
Chief Gregg Muravchick said he had just helped a father who was dropping some things off for his son at the Transy administration building when Muravchick received an alert from the campus police dispatcher: Someone had pressed a panic alarm behind the register at Jazzman’s Café, right next door.
Inside the Glenn Building, the attacker, Mitchell Adkins, 19, had cornered several women, some of whom were students, in a breezeway at the back of the cafe.
Adkins had a machete in one hand and a scythe in the other.
With his handgun drawn, Muravchick yelled at Adkins, telling him to drop the weapons and drop to the ground.
“He turned and came toward me” as Muravchick continued to order Adkins to drop the weapons. Adkins cut himself on the arms, then put down his knives and lay down.
Transylvania President Seamus Carey had just gotten out of his car when he saw the commotion at the Glenn Building and ran inside, university spokeswoman Michele Sparks said.
Muravchick, who was holding his handgun while restraining Adkins, didn’t have a free hand to reach his handcuffs, so Carey got them for him.